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Water Taxi ridership continues to climb

The evening water taxi sailings to Vashon continue to set ridership records. On July 26, we carried 241 passengers on the 5:30 p.m. sailing from Pier 50. This surpasses the previous record sailing – 237 – on a commute day set just a few weeks ago.

West Seattle also has seen a rise in commuter ridership in the first six months of 2016, averaging a 36.6% increase over the same time in 2015.

These record numbers reflect the continued growth of our Water Taxi service, both on the Vashon and West Seattle and robust ridership helping to fill some trips near the 278-passenger capacity on each boat.

Riders know that it’s been an exciting year of ridership growth already, with new vessels on the routes, the temporary Alaskan Way Viaduct closure in May, and higher visibility as the Water Taxi promotes its congestion-free travel on the water. Good service, great reliability and passengers sharing the stories of their picturesque experiences riding the Water Taxi are the best advertising.

We are proud how this popularity plays out in our monthly ridership gains: Vashon ridership, when compared to the same month in the previous year, rose for 17 consecutive months; the West Seattle route over the last 10 consecutive months.

You can dig into the ridership stats below, which show a trend that will likely have us exceed 500,000 annual riders a second year in a row. Stay tuned and thanks for riding!